Tech Talk: Unruly, GroupM, TubeMogul, Sizmek and more

Unruly brings emotional intelligence to digital advertising

Video ad tech company Unruly has launched a new content testing tool that allows advertisers to analyse the authenticity of their video ads.

Unruly EQ enables marketers to test their ads to see if the content is consistent with the brand’s values and purpose. The tool is launched in partnership with marketing research firm Nielsen, emotional analytics company Affectiva and pioneers in music data analysis Moodagent.

According to a recent Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience study, ads with above average EEG (electroencephalogram) scores deliver a 23 percent uplift in sales volume versus average ads.

Unruly EQ uses a combination of biometric, neurological, emotional and audio testing methods to evaluate, improve and predict the emotional impact and brand effectiveness of video ads. These include:

• Brand authenticity and perception testing: Allows marketers to test their ads to see if the content is perceived as authentic and consistent with their brand’s values and purpose.
• EEG testing: Collaborating with Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience, the tool can measure non-conscious responses, something traditional research misses, for a more complete view of consumers. Thirty two sensors are used to capture activity across all brain regions along with eye tracking. Unruly insight analysts and Nielsen neuroscientists use the data to produce recommendations for content optimisation.
• Emotion analytics and facial coding: Advertisers are given a second-by-second emotional trace of their content using Affectiva’s market-leading facial coding and emotion analytics technology.
• Audio testing: The tool incorporates testing from Moodagent, using machine learning to examine how a specific soundtrack amplifies or detracts from the emotional intensity and overall effectiveness of an ad.
• Social impact and shareability analysis: The company's algorithm is trained using 1 million consumer responses to videos and sharing data relating to 3 trillion video views, and enables advertisers to predict and improve the social impact of their video content.

The deep analysis provided is touted to allow advertisers to optimise their video campaigns by providing:

• Identification of the type and intensity of emotions elicited by an ad to predict its overall impact.
• Diagnostics to optimise content for emotional impact and improve creative quality.
• Deep analysis of the metrics that matter, including authenticity, brand statements, brand impact, purchase intent and predicted shareability.

Phil Townend, chief commercial officer, APAC, Unruly:

We’re really excited to be offering a ground-breaking testing solution that brings together data and emotions and helps advertisers measure the metrics that move the needle. Forward-thinking marketers already appreciate the importance of emotional intelligence when it comes to video advertising. Authenticity, in particular, is very important to viewers, our survey found that 76 percent of consumers lose trust when an ad feels inauthentic.

LinkedIn unlocks conversion tracking

LinkedIn has launched new features in a move to enable marketers who advertise on the social network to better measure ROI and business impact.

Conversion Tracking introduces a set of capabilities built directly into LinkedIn Campaign Manager, letting marketers measure how many leads, sign-ups, content downloads, purchases, and other specific results from their Sponsored Content and Text Ads campaigns.

Marketers can also track website conversions from LinkedIn programs in Campaign Manager analytics, and at a glance, understand LinkedIn advertising ROI, conversion count, cost-per-conversion, conversion rate, and more. They can also track which audience segments are driving the most conversions.

GroupM China launches Trusted Marketplace

WPP’s GroupM has announced the launch of its Trusted Marketplace (TMP), billed as the largest digital inventory ecosystem of its kind in China.

The introdution of TMP is intended to offer a full picture of all programmatic channels and partners, with a mission to improve the integrity and transparency of the digital supply chain, so that advertisers can better leverage the power of programmatic buying.

Via what it describes as a “rigorous selection process” GroupM has identified nearly 30 partners to join the TMP in China, including Tencent, IQiyi, ThePaper, imgo.TV, Huawei and Weibo.

Patrick Xu, CEO of GroupM China:

Advertisers are spending more on programmatic buying. Of course, efficiency and performance are key, but advertisers today are just as concerned about the quality of inventories and whether the environment has standardized procedures and is well-regulated and safe. Brand owners, agencies, media owners, tech companies and all other players should join hands to ensure the safety of brands and against fraud, as well as the sound development of digital ecosystem. GroupM looks forward to welcoming with open arms more outstanding partners to the GroupM TMP.

TubeMogul partners with Factual to boost location-based capabilities

TubeMogul has announced a partnership with neutral data company Factual to make its Geopulse Proximity and Geopulse Audience targeting capabilities available directly within TubeMogul’s software platform.

Through the integration, advertisers can apply Factual’s highly customisable location-based audiences and geofencing capabilities to both boost scale across premium inventory providers as well as amplify video and display ad formats served within mobile applications. 

Factual’s dataset covers over 100 million business listings and points of interest across 50 countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Rob Jonas, senior vice president of revenue, Factual:

High growth and increasing levels of sophistication in the programmatic mobile video market are driving high demand for advanced mobile-first targeting data. This partnership with TubeMogul will enable advertisers around the world to combine the power of location data with the engagement of video ads to create and execute highly successfully marketing campaigns. 

Sizmek launches new programmatic creative offering

Sizmek has announced the release of full and self-serve programmatic creative, including rich media and dynamic creative, enabling rapid, easy build out and delivery through DSPs and trading desks.

The new suite is touted to take the guesswork out of complicated data strategies and enable fast deployment of personalized creative across all channels.

It also includes solutions to streamline workflow, centralize data, visualize campaign strategy and to collaborate with media and brand teams to deliver relevant, on-target and data driven creative. Additionally, the suite’s authoring tool and templates are designed for fast campaign roll-out of dynamic and rich media that are affordable and move at the speed of programmatic.

Additionally, the new solution delivers targeted, massive omni-channel reach, dynamic creative, rich media full-serve production, ad serving, and Peer39 pre-bid targeting for safety, quality, and content. Sizmek will be introducing additional new features in the near future. 

Tim Bagwell, senior vice president at Xaxis Ad Labs:

Programmatic buying has clearly reached an inflection point in the marketplace. Digital marketers are shifting budgets from traditional to programmatic because it creates buying efficiencies and more effectively targets brand audiences. Unfortunately, many brands have missed the opportunity to combine programmatic buying with programmatic creative. This miss is due to the limited creative tools in the ecosystem that put programmatic creative at the reach of digital creatives. The launch by Sizmek is a big step forward in filling that gap.

Ksubaka reports China milestone

Ksubaka announced that it has broken through the 5,000 barrier of installed playSpots across China. It currently claims to be “the fastest growing direct-to-consumer media network” in the country, with over 10 million shoppers engaging with the network each month.

The interactive kiosks called ‘playSpots’ provide mini games that take the consumer on a branded game journey. A typical game session lasts for one minute—the company calls this a ‘Moment of Joy’ (MoJo). Games are provisioned to the network over-the-air.

The network is supported by a real-time analytics platform providing campaign owners with data-driven insight into activity results. Campaigns can be tweaked in a matter of minutes across the entire network, providing full control, right at the point of purchase.

Julian Corbett, CEO and Co-Founder, Ksubaka:

Our rapid roll out across Asia and unique ability to connect with consumers at the moment when they are in ‘purchase mode’ gives us one of the most powerful new media networks available to brands and retail. Brands get access to incredible engagement stats, which are both reliable and meaningful, and significantly a demonstrable uplift in sales. The feedback we get from retailers is that shoppers play and afterwards they have a smile on their face. We are creating Moments of Joy for shoppers and brands alike.

Pixels Mobile Ad Marketplace reaches 100 percent smartphone penetration 

According to ComScore’s July 2016 audience data for Hong Kong, Pixels’ mobile ad network has achieved 100 percent smartphone penetration for both iOS and Android user bases. This is in the context of 220 percent mobile penetration in Hong Kong, of which 90 percent are smartphones, making the reach of Pixels’ ad network under 7 million estimated smartphones.

Over the last three years, the company has made various investments and bets on the nascent mobile advertising industry in Hong Kong. No other local mobile ad network has 100 percent reach until now, according to Pixels.

Kevin Huang, CEO of Pixels:

“The first thing we did [three years ago] was to build up a high-quality advertising marketplace consisting of apps and mobile sites which included partners such as Now.com, Mingpao, QianXun, Spotify, Broadway Ticketing, AM730 and many more. We think reaching 100 percent is important because it represent the shift that the HK consumer market is going through where the majority of consumption is now on mobile and will continue to be. This means that Pixels is a significant audience platform for marketers to be able to reach either a wide audience or very specific target audience by adding in audience data layers.”

ComScore activates new solution for better targeting

ComScore has introduced a new global solution, comScore Activation, that allows media buyers and sellers to build more powerful audience and content targets to drive stronger advertising results. The new product is touted to help media sellers increase scale and achieve higher CPMs for their inventory, and enables advertisers to reach their target audience with more relevant messaging in a context that is right for their brand. 

Through a precise analysis of page-level content and audience behaviour, it enables clients to build unique targets based on custom criteria. These targets are then integrated directly into their ad server or DMP, allowing buyers or sellers to quickly and easily activate off of this data when buying impressions or packaging inventory.

Manish Bhatia, chief product officer at comScore:

In the age of personalisation, media buyers and sellers need to deliver highly relevant experiences and create targets based on attributes beyond age and gender. Our clients come to us because our proprietary technology enables them to create more scalable segments with precision, and they can achieve results that are superior to what they would get from using a semantics-only approach.